The origins of Katowice date to 1397 when the settlement of Kuźnica was
founded. Katowice was first mentioned as a village surrounded by dense forests
in 1598. In the 18th century, numerous work colonies sprang up in the region,
and by 1769 and 1770, the Prussian Duke of Pless established an underground
coal mine in the area. The next industrial sites were the Hohenlohe steelworks
in the village of Wełnowiec, founded in 1805, the Baildon steelworks in 1828
(named after their founder, a Scotsman), and the Wilhelmina zinc works in 1834.
Situated in the Upper Silesian Province of the German Empire, Katowice
